By allowing a one-sided town hall, CNN footed the bill for a nationally broadcast Trump rally.
Also a huge victory for shamelessly blatant lies and the stupidity and gullibility of a pretty significant cross-section of American voters. When Bill Maher had New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu on his show a few months ago, they had a disagreement about Trump: Maher felt he was going to win the Republican nomination but lose the general election; Sununu felt he had no chance of even getting the nomination. It could be that they were both tragically wrong, and there are very dark days ahead.
And likely drew more viewers than they usually would on a Wednesday evening, which is, I suspect, the primary (if unfortunate) rationale that CNN’s management had for hosting it.
“Let’s show the world how stupid he is, over and over and over again!” is what fueled his campaign the first time.
That’s not the obvious answer, because his conservative base WANTS a national abortion ban, and all arguments about originalism or limitations on government powers are bullshit, always have been bullshit, and always will be bullshit.
Going for the bog standard RW deflection tactic is not “to his credit”. The supposed “mental health crisis” is nothing more than a fig leaf for the GUN AND MURDER CRISIS.
I did not have to see any of it to know that whoever worked in that room deserved hazard pay, and then some.
I would love to see what the ratings were for that program.
I’m surprised that Kaitlan Collins agreed to this gig, or indeed that anyone would agree to it who was not a novice desperate for media exposure. Because it was clearly a no-win proposition. She would either get steamrolled by Trump and his incessant lying and then get insulted on top of that – because he insults everyone who isn’t an all-out sycophant – or she could push back hard, in which case Trump would walk out. That would leave the sponsors very unhappy, which causes management to be very unhappy. Which then causes careers to end. Trump is like a disease that infects everything it touches.
…it isn’t just ratings. The new CEO of CNN, along with the new overlords, have a very exact political agenda. And many in the media have gotten “bored” during the Biden years and are missing the “drama” and the “antics” of the Trump years. This was intentional. The ratings are great. But they want their guy back even more.
Why is CNN giving Trump unmitigated coverage? Oh, yeah:
Stranger
‘People say “Trump has the Merdeass touch” and I can’t disagree.’ ~ TRDJT
“You’re a very nasty person”
“Okay…you’re a sexual predator. Your turn.”
And that right there, folks, is the Republicans’ family and Christian values slap in your face!
Too bad Kevin Nealon wasn’t hosting this disaster. It would have been perfect for his Mister Subliminal routine.
And I naively believed that a town hall was filled with community members. What the hell is CNN thinking by having only Trump supporters in attendance? I’m glad I didn’t tune in, and tuning in to CNN at all anymore isn’t likely for me.
What sane people would show up to be in an audience full of MAGA fanatics?
Stranger
And of course over on Breitbart they think this is proof of what a great leader Trump is.
We’re doomed.
I was more sickened by the audience and their response to his lies and blatant misinformation blather than by Trump himself. I could only stand to watch for 7 minutes before the taste in my mouth became unbearable.
There is a cancer in minds of his supporters that can’t be overcome except by outnumbering them at the election polls. Perhaps CNN did do a service by exposing him and his folowers to people who would never watch one of his rallies.
I watched most, if not all, of this shitshow when I was in the kitchen. So much disgust, but let’s start with the audience. The laughter when E. Jean Carroll was mentioned, the circus seal response when he responded to the economy question with “drill baby drill,” the entire thing. If I were a member of the audience, I would have have made an alibi so I wouldn’t have to be exposed as an enabler of this shitgibbon.
Kaitlan Collins came up through the Daily Caller “media” system but I’ve seen her actually do a decent job as CNN’s WH correspondent, but she wasn’t up to the job of containing TFG. Few journalists could - Chris Wallace, or Jake Tapper probably were the best to deploy. We know he’s misogynist, so the times where Collins actually pinned him down, it was inevitable that he would call her “nasty” (which is TFG-speak for the C-word).
I heard that they cut the interview early. It was also interesting that midway through, they came back from commercial and they were both standing. I think from the sitting position, he was essentially talking over her and she did do a little better after they stood.
The post-mortem was interesting, because you had serious journalists like Dana Bash and Audie Cornish, and a braying jackass in Byron McDonald who basically tried to gish gallop and advance his election denialism. He was curiously absent from the second segment.
Overall, it was a risky move for CNN with very little upside, and I think it (predictably) backfired and blew up in their face. It will probably be a case study in corporate media and poor decision making, and how CNN essentially televised a TFG rally. The only upside is that he’s probably sunk his appeal of the Carroll verdict by insulting her days after the case, and Fani Willis has to be licking her chops with his statement that the SoS “owed” him votes.
I need a shower. Ugh.